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Published : 14 Feb 2026, 10:28 PM
Two days after the general election, a group of people have hoisted the national flag and saluted Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman outside the Awami League office in Dhaka’s Gulistan.
Over the last year, the building displayed a banner saying: “International Institute for Research on Fascism and Genocide”.
A street vendor near the office said a group comprising around eight people arrived with a national flag and paid tribute to Bangabandhu on Saturday afternoon.
They later tied the flag to an electric pole and left.
The national flag, however, was not there a while later.
“They looked like working-class people. Probably some were rickshaw pullers, some street vendors or hawkers,” said Salimullah Bepari, a clothing vendor.
Salim Bepari claimed he had spoken with them.
He said, “They told me, ‘The Razakars are no longer around; they were the ones who used to block us from coming to this office. Now that they have lost, we have come to hoist the flag.’”
Following the fall of the Awami League government in the July Uprising on Aug 5, 2024, the party's headquarters in Gulistan’s Bangabandhu Avenue became the target of protesters. After being ransacked, the 10-storey building was set on fire.
Since then, the abandoned building has turned into a heap of garbage.
It had become a makeshift toilet for the homeless, rickshaw pullers, van drivers, and pedestrians, and also served as a hiding spot for drug addicts.
A group of vagrants had taken over the building before being replaced with another, calling themselves “students”.
After taking control of the structure last July, the “students” announced that it would be turned into a research institute, hanging the banner outside the building.
No official announcement has been made by the government regarding the establishment of such an institute.
In the wake of the political shift, and as part of a series of name changes for various roads and landmarks, the name of the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue has also been changed. The street is now named “Shaheed Abrar Fahad Avenue”.
The Dhaka district Awami League office in Tejgaon and the Awami League president's office in Dhanmondi were also set on fire and looted. The buildings have remained abandoned since then.
Last May, a ban was imposed on the activities of the Awami League, resulting in the party’s absence from the general election.
On Nov 13 last year, the Awami League headquarters came under another round of attack and arson during a “lockdown” event announced by the party online.
After Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina took charge of the party around 1981, 23 Bangabandhu Avenue became the address for the Awami League's headquarters. The construction of the current 10-storey building was completed in 2018.
